comments for tom brokaw in depth sunday live at noon eastern. book tv every weekend on cspan 2. with congress on break this week, we're featuring program frs american history tv. seen every weekend on cspan 3. tonight on lectures in history, we hear from university of michigan professor kevin gaines on the music of the civil rights movement. in about an hour and a half, former defense secretary, donald rumsfeld talks about the war on terror in south carolina and later, a look at urban america in the mid 20th century with brian parnell. he teaches a course on the social, dynamic and cultures of american cities after world war ii. american history tv, all week on cspan 3.

sunday -- >> i don't regard this as just a biography of lyndon johnson. i want each book to examine a kind of political power in america. saying this is a kind of political power seeing what a president can can do in a moment of great crisis. how he gathers around. what does he do to get legislation moving to take command in washington? that's the way of examining power in a time of crisis and i said, i want to do this in full. i suppose it takes 300 pages in there. so i couldn't, that's why i just said let's examine in. >> robert caro on the passage of power, volume 4 and the years of lyndon johnson, his biography of the 36th president. this sunday at 8:00 on q and a and look for our second hour of conversation sunday may 20th. american history tv sits in on a college lecture every week.

you can watch the classes here every saturday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern and sundays at 1:00 p.m. next, we join university of michigan history professor, kevin gaines, discussing the music of the civil rights movement. this is a little less than an hour and a half. each week, american history tv sits in on a lecture with one o it have country's college professors. you can watch the classes here every night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. this week, we join kevin gaines where he discusses the music of the civil rights movement. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> welcome history 197, the long civil rights movement. thank you all for coming. i'd like to thank c-span for coming to the university of michigan to tape this lecture which is on the music of the civil rights and black power movement, and we have a lot of

material to get through, and so what i'm hoping is that we will just go right to the slides and begin. now, why study the music of the civil rights movement? and when you look at this period, it's really striking how the mass media affected people's perceptions of the movement, and we're talking about the nightly news. we're talking about print journalism, photo journalism and also popular culture, popular music and film and sports. the 1960s, and i think we've talked about this, were very unique in that the times, the civil rights movement, the social movement of the era, the anti-war movement and women's movement. it politicized all sorts of realms of culture. popular music became a field, an

arena where people expressed their views of the time, and, you know, popular culture is also interesting in that it gives marginalized groups, people from marginalized groups, a voice, a political voice that they might not otherwise have. and so here we see a couple of countercultural icons of the 1960s and 1970s, and perhaps even still today, bob dylan and mohamed ali. there's an interesting comment i ran across, it's a popular music. the broader social significance. the popular song has become a most revealing index to american life in general. it sums up the ethics and slang and intimate character of every generation and will tell as much to future students as any histories, biographies or newspapers at the time, and

that's from sigmund spaeth and his book, "the facts of life in popular song." and here you see the connection between the movement and popular culture, popular entertainment symbolized by the partnership of harry belafonte who, until elvis came on the scene in the 1950s, was the most popular male vocalist in the united states. harry belafonte and dr. king. another thing to keep in mind when we take a look at the music of the movement, african-american music had a global popularity. many jazz musicians had toured in europe going back to the 1920s and 1930s, including louis armstrong, and it's -- it's -- the civil rights movement is really an international phenomenon in large part because it's happening at the same time as the cold war, and it's

happening at the same time as african independence movements. and here you see some images of louis armstrong. louis armstrong was drafted by the state department as a cultural ambassador, and so he was sent all over the world, to africa and eastern europe primarily, as an instrument of cultural diplomacy during the cold war. here you have him playing at the sphinx and the photo on the left is armstrong performing at an orphanage in cairo in the late 1950s. armstrong is someone who is universally popular, and the state department, many people would have criticized the state department in the 1960s, but they had a really good idea in sending musicians like armstrong and other jazz musicians, and

later in the 1960 pop and gospel music to represent the united states aboard in the struggle for hearts and minds overseas. okay. now this is also a period in which there's a connect between the civil rights movement and african independence movement. while young people in the united states cannot be served at lunch counters, african nations are gaining independence and so you have dr. king as a guest of honor at the independence festivities in ghana. there he is with the prime minister of ghana. and dr. king came back from the independence ceremonies and spoke to his congregation and really felt optimistic about the prospects for change after having seen the british colonial union jack go down and the newly independent -- the flag of the newly independent nation of ghana go up. here you have malcolm x who

visited ghana after he left the nation of islam, when he was trying to start a new political formation, a more radical formation that really sort of engaged critically with the u.s. foreign and domestic policy. here he is with maya angelou who tells the story of being asked by malcolm to work for his new organization and then coming back to the united states only to find out that he had been assassinated. and here is marian macaba, a south african vocalist who symbolized the connection between the u.s. civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid struggle in south africa. she was brought -- sort of brought by the impresario harry belafonte, and she worked with some prominent african-american musicians like nina simone for the duration of their careers. now, i really want you to -- did you take a look at this one,

this -- this particular image? it's a really striking image that shows how black music was a lightning rod for segregationists, and it became a real target for those who in the white south were behind the whole movement of massive resistance to desegregation. it's from the new orleans citizens council, and you know about the white citizens council that were formed throughout the south in response to the brown decision and court-ordered desegregation, and it says help save the youth of america. we know which youth they are talking about. don't buy negro records. if you don't want to serve negroes in your place of business, then do not have negro records on your jukebox or listen to negro records on the radio. don't let your children buy or listen to those negro records, and here you have chuck barry who would have been one of those disreputable black musicians from the standpoint of segregationists, and -- and let's see, if -- if i can get this one to work here, and this is a -- a rally opposed to

desegregation in little rock in 1958, and you can see the signs. race mixing is communism, so all of these fears and phobias of the white south, the segregationist white south, because there were certainly some folks who believed in change in the south, but you do have sort of a mob culture, a very militant opposition, so black music, race mixing, communism, they are all sort of bundled together as a threat in the -- in sort of the white racist imagination. so the media is really important. the media is a way to sort of break through the culture of black resistance. insofar as civil rights demonstrations and other protests are broadcast nationally, and this picture is

important because she testified at the convention on national television to the atrocities that were taking place in mississippi, and -- and lyndon johnson called a press conference from the white house to get her off of the air, and then the -- the three nightly news programs ran her testimony in its entirety. and so, you know, african-americans in the mainstream also challenged the stereotypes that are very pervasive. not so much now. we don't see them in american culture because of the civil rights movement. it made the broadcast, the display of those stereotypes, really, really not legitimate. so here you have chubby checker who is doing the twist. he was popularizer of the dance

craze the twist, ray charles and the supremes, and, you know, i just want to mention briefly that media was much more decentralized. media was much more independent. you can black-owned radio stations. you had independent radio stations. you had an alternative press, and so media was not as sort of corporate controlled as it is today. so this allowed for more perspectives on civil rights, more independent perspectives, both black and white, progressive, to get out there. just some quick looks at racial stereotypes, if you had grown up in the several rights movement this stuff would have been very common and even in the cartoons they don't show these anymore.

these were some warner brothers and cartoons and others. racism was just part of the culture, children's literature. you remember james baldwin saying growing up it comes as a rude shock to be rooting against gary cooper against the indians and then you realize the indians are you. you understand how they can go a job on the mentalities both black and whites. now where does this music come from? there are several sources. the folk music revival of the 1950s and '60s, which actually goes back to a more progressive left wing culture of folk music. folk music as synonymous of the 1940s. going back to woody guthrie and going back to other artists. we're going to focus on the revival of folk music in the 1950s and '60s, modern jazz, the spirituals.

african-american spirituals and the freedom summits of the civil rights movement. now, i just wanted to give you a brief glimpse of some of the figures who were prominent in the move, and you can see this -- this pete seger recording is from a live concert. in 1963, june 8, 1963, so that would have been happening in the midst of the whole birmingham campaign and very close, i think, very approximate to the time of medgar evers' assassination. odetta sings bob dylan. highly recommend this record. sings bob dylan, and this recording was done in 1965, a real endorsement of dylan as a voice of protest, a voice of conscience and then over there kind of a little bit off stage peter, paul and mary. in jazz you had protests coming

from folks who had been on the scene like duke ellington. i don't know if any of these faces are duke ellington. there are lots of african-american historical luminaries but not duke. we insist, freedom now suite. you can see the album covers are re-enacting the sit-ins, and this album was inspired by the sit-ins, the sort of mass uprising, spontaneous uprising of college, black youth. white youth took part in the sit-ins throughout the south and then charles mingus who was a very distinctive and strong voice of protest. spirituals in gospel music, of course, paul roveson identified with the spirituals and also identified with a strong voice of protest. leatine price, another african-american classical singer who was very prominent in this period.

mahalia jackson, participated in the march on washington and a friend of dr. king and mr. reston, made a recording of spirituals and in addition to his brilliance as an organizer, he was a great singer as well. and then the tradition of the freedom songs, and this is primarily within snc, though freedom songs would be sung at other rallies, of other civil rights organizations but, you know, the freedom singers are part of the fund-raising arm of snc, and here's a button that folks would have worn back then. snc, the student, non-violent coordinating committee. now, when you think about this music, obviously not all the musical selections are coming from african-american artists,

but if a song was recorded by a black artist, it was likely to be invested by audiences with political meaning, regardless of its content so when aretha franklin sings a song called "think" which you've probably heard, which is really about a relationship, and she starts singing about freedom. well, it's not hard to sort of make the -- the connection with the struggle, or respect. so -- and i think it's really important to have this idea from susan smith who did a study of motown when you consider how the songs would both have been heard by black and white audiences. this is a period of negro firsts and mary anderson is known as a civil rights icon as having given the concert on easter sunday in 1939 after she was

denied the use of constitution hall in washington, d.c. by the daughters of the american revolution in an act of discrimination, so -- but here she is doing the slave spiritual which begins they crucified my lord, and he never said a mumbling word. ♪ ♪ and he never said a mumbling word ♪ ♪ not a word ♪ not a word

♪ not a word ♪ he bowed his head at dark ♪ and he never said a mumbling word ♪ ♪ he bowed his head and died

♪ and he never said a mumbling word ♪ ♪ not a word ♪ not a word ♪ not a word >> it's an integrated audience. so we talked about jazz as a

site for this protest music and charles mingus is denouncing governor orville faubus, and it's interesting to think, you know, well, this could have been a genre of songs condemning segregationist governors of the period. you know, you had george wallace of alabama, ross barnett of mississippi, you had lester maddox of georgia, but this is really occasioned by the little rock crisis, and let's let the music speak for itself. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> okay.

we have to move rapidly through these clips. we can't really play the songs in their entirety, unfortunately, but i'm hoping that you can go and find some of these on the itunes you page for i guess the benefit of the students. i don't know if there's going to be broader access to that, but -- but in any case. the real ambassadors was a musical review that was written by dave brubeck, a very prominent jazz band leader and pianist and his wife, and it's based on louis armstrong's experience as a cultural ambassador for the state department, and this was a collaboration of many musicians, including the vocal trio which was very hot, as you can see, the host new group, hendricks the hottest new group, hendricks and ross in the 1950s, late '50s and early '60s, and this really captures a moment of hope for

integration, and i think you can hear that in the music, in the -- in the music in which louis armstrong is joined by lambert, hendricks and ross. ♪ ♪ holiday, holiday, holiday ♪ telling me the day is near ♪ the day that i've been waiting for bring me earth forever more ♪ ♪ and as they were looking down at me ♪ ♪ saying blow your horn, set men free ♪ ♪ so that the whole world can hear ♪ ♪ and wipe out our fears ♪ lift up thy voice like a trumpet ♪

♪ and show the people their transgressions and their sins ♪ ♪ ♪ make that trumpet blow ♪ what are you waiting for ♪ what are you waiting for ♪ ♪ can it be that you set all people free ♪ >> you'll have to go to itunes to hear satchmo actually blow a trumpet. this is self-explanatory.

this is a little piece on the march on washington, and the music on the march on washington. ♪ we shall overcome ♪ we shall overcome some day ♪ oh, deep in my heart i know that i do believe ♪ ♪ we shall overcome some day ♪ we shall overcome some day ♪ we shall be all right ♪ we shall be all right ♪ we shall be all right ♪ we shall be all right ♪

♪ that the laws are with him to protect his white skin ♪ ♪ to keep up his heat so he never thinks about the shape that he's in ♪ ♪ he's only a pawn in their game ♪ ♪ from the poverty shacks he looks to the cracks to the tracks ♪ ♪ and the hoof beats pound in his brain ♪ ♪ and he's walking it back ♪ sitting in the back with his fists clinched, to hanging, to lynch, to hide beneath the hood, to kill with no pain, like a dog on a chain ♪ ♪ he ain't got no name

♪ but it ain't him to blame ♪ he's only a pawn in their game ♪ >> okay. i just want to show this very briefly. ozzie davis, the actor introduced bob dylan who performs. we're going to watch this very briefly. i just want to show it to you, because this film was produced by the united states information service, and it was sent overseas to show overseas audiences during the cold war that the united states was capable of having this peaceful demonstration for civil rights and that the system was working, the system was in the process of reforming itself so this was for export only. it was not shown in the united states. okay.

whoops. wow, okay. >> new york, bob dylan. [ applause ] ♪ ♪ he took it out in the dark ♪ ♪ he's only a pawn in their game ♪ >> okay. okay.